Exposing right-wing lies and obfuscation against the Labour party

Poverty on the Rise: CameronMustGo because he and his cohorts rob the poor to overflow the coffers of the rich

Recent research confirms an alarming rise in poverty and inequality fuelled by the policies of the Tory-led coalition government. 13 million people in the UK, half of them in working families, are now living in poverty due to falling wages, rising prices and lack of full time work, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s latest annual report on poverty and social exclusion.

This report and several others demonstrate that these days having a job doesn’t guarantee that you can keep the wolf from the door:

Average incomes have fallen by 9% and there’s been a “sharp increase” in the number of under-25s “living below the breadline”.

1.4 million adults are working part time because they can’t find full-time work.

1.6 million people are on temporary (mostly zero hour) contracts.

The average self-employed person now earns 13 per cent less than five years ago.

Growing numbers of people on low incomes depend on food banks to survive (22% of the record half a million who used them in the first 6 months of the current financial year, according to research by the Trussell Trust).

Rates of child poverty are shocking – over 30% in almost all the major cities in the UK (reaching as high as 39% in Manchester and 37% in Birmingham) and in a large number of London’s boroughs (Tower Hamlets, at 49%, tops the list).

New research shows a third of families of children with disabilities are worse off due to the cuts – often being forced to choose between food or heating – and a quarter say this has affected their child’s health.

Who benefits?

These are just some of the hardships being perpetuated by the government under its irrational and obsessive programme of cuts. We are called on to offer due sacrifice – “all in it together” to pay off the criminal debts of a few.

Although the top 5% lost 1% of their potential income (which, truth be told, they won’t even have noticed), the rest of the top half of earners gained while the poorest groups ended up “losing most as a proportion of their incomes”.

Whether due to wilfulness or incompetence, Cameron’s government is failing the working people in more than a hundred different ways – from poverty to welfare to childcare to the NHS to low pay to education (see the full list here). Not only that: it hasn’t even paid down the deficit, which along with the debt just keeps on rising.

It’s no wonder that the twitter hashtag #CameronMustGo went viral this past weekend when over 100,000 angry tweets recorded the growing opposition to austerity and berated Cameron for breaking promises and telling lies. The resistance was bound to come (you can’t fool all the people all the time). But on Election Day, will it be strong enough to see the back of Cameron? Ed and Labour have the policies, but can they withstand 6 more months of the relentless and coordinated beat down, driven by the Nasty Party and right-wing media? More thoughts tomorrow…